Food for all
Annual case competition addresses social health issues, sponsors food drive
12:53 p.m., March 12, 2014--Since the end of February, graduate students in the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics have been busy preparing strategic recommendations to address the issues around connecting low-income households with fresh and healthy food options direct from farmers for presentation at the annual Carol A. Ammon Case Competition finals on Friday, March 21.
This year’s case is based in part on segments of “Enabling Access to Healthy Alternatives for Low-Income Families: The Role of Mobile Technology,” a paper by Andrea Everard, associate professor in the Department of Accounting and MIS, and students must consider a variety of stakeholders including consumers, suppliers, the government and the infrastructure providing the electronic processing of transactions.
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The competition, named after its founder and begun in 2000, is designed to enhance students’ analytics and presentation skills, expand their business vocabulary and expose them to an audience of regional business leaders.
Unique to this year and closely tied with the Lerner College’s emphasis on experiential learning opportunities, in preparation for the competition members of each of the 19 teams will spend a morning working at the Food Bank of Delaware’s Newark and Milford locations.
Team presentations will undergo two rounds of judging. On the morning of the competition, students will participate in a closed preliminary round of presentations with judging by a panel of MBA alumni and friends. The teams that excel from the primary round will move on to the final round.
The final round, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 1:30 p.m. in 125 Alfred Lerner Hall, during which each of the finalist teams will give their 20-minute presentations to a panel of executives from the case company.
An awards ceremony and reception will follow in the Lerner Atrium.
Food drive
In conjunction with this year’s competition, the college is also sponsoring a food drive to benefit the Food Bank of Delaware, which serves nearly one out of four people in the state.
“Residents are struggling in our nearby community and this is our opportunity to make a difference,” said Polly Wardell, a Lerner College senior majoring in hotel, restaurant and institutional management with a minor in economics, and an event planning intern with the college who has helped coordinate the drive.
Faculty, staff, students and members of the community are invited to drop off donations in collection bins that will be located in the lobbies of Purnell and Lerner halls from March 17-24.
All non-perishable canned goods are appreciated, but foods most urgently needed include canned fruits and vegetables, meats, soups, stews, chilis, peanut butter, cereal, pasta and rice.
Article by Kathryn Meier